'Moving on' from care into adulthood consultation

In Perth and Kinross we use our IT system to identify young people who are accommodated by age to identify those young people who will require a service, . From 15 the Throughcare and Aftercare Team team will become involved but the Lead Professional remains until relationships have been built. The advantage of this approach is that the young person gets to know the worker but has the support of the team who know them best.

The disadvantage is that on occasions the young person can become anxious and feel that they are being moved on sooner than they think they should be. It is therefore very carefully planned and involves speaking to the young person and, their carer to ensure that they are fully aware of the service and what the transitions are. By introducing early enough the young person is given time to know what their rights are, seek supports about where they want to move on to and test out some of those plans.

As above on occasions young people can become anxious that this is a way in which their team are moving them on without them being ready and will fight against that. We have seen occasions when the young people have been settled and then their situation disrupts so introducing the TCAC worker early enough with good explanations is vital.

Childcare social workers who have been the main support for the young person can also want to shield them from moving on and want to keep them protected which can result in them not supporting the involvement of TCAC. Whilst this can be a barrier it is also a sign that the workers care about the young people they are involved with.

Our approach is to promote the skills required for independence from an early stage. We have developed groups for care experienced young people in our secondary schools with the aim of introducing young people to their rights and the supports they receive and are entitled to for now and in the future. The groups also allow for peer support and mentoring from older care experienced young people. The groups cover lots of subjects but the young people have used these groups to discuss what independence means and to talk through their concerns.

These groups have resulted in young people being more connected with their community and having the confidence to participate in local and national events. Through participation some young people have gained awards but more importantly gained confidence and aspiration for their future

We have returned many young people home to live with their family pre and post 16. The main factor is preparation with both the young person and their family. We need to ensure that both realise that things will be different and build trust so that they will ask for help if necessary. We have an approach which is planned and takes account of individual circumstances.
Our REACH team provide 24/7 support to families where young people return home and offer a multi agency support from speech and language assessment and support to educational support. These assessments ensure that we are working with the family in ways they are able to understand. Our experience tells us that when a young person returns the initial few days are often harmonious but if the young person is not occupied then boredom can easily disrupt a return.

Our TCAC team will also return young people and use supports both within our young people’s base but also in the community that the young person is returning to. We have developed partnerships with local youth work providers and developed family projects which work within communities specifically targeting families who are on the edge of care or where young people are returning.

We are clear that for a successful return to parents, planning needs to be there in order to ensure that all involved are prepared. Support out of hours is also necessary in some cases having someone who knows the family working out of hours often prevents the crisis from escalating.

Prior to the return home it is important to understand the situation which led to the accommodation and what has changed. We use FGDM processes to allow that understanding of family dynamics and how the family can work together to support the family. We find these processes often allow for greater understanding of the family dynamics and pressures and provide opportunities for families to become more resilient.

When a child is removed from birth parents it is very difficult for the service who removed the child and who are involved in permanence planning to support the birth parents as families are often in conflict with workers. It would be helpful to have a third sector organisation or community supports to take this forward especially when it is repeated.

Families have told us that they have felt judged by some universal provision and this has stopped them seeking support and changing patterns of behaviour. We have built projects in communities with a high population of children and young people which will support families to prevent accommodation but also when children and young people return. These projects use a community learning and development approach and offer practical and emotional support individually or as part of a group.

We are currently supporting a young person aged 14 to return to his mother’s care from residential care. We have identified the risks around this return with the family but appreciate the biggest risk is the pressure Mum may feel and return to her previous large consumption of alcohol. To address this we have had a FGDM meeting and made a family plan which supports Mum to avoid feeling under pressure and offer respite to Mum by other family members. Mum found this meeting difficult as she had to be honest about what led to his accommodation and her own difficulties. The young person found this helpful as Mum was honest with him and felt his family wanted him.

To prepare we have linked the Mum into a community family project which supports families through counselling and group activities. Mum is feeling stronger and has been able to complete some reparative work.

The contact with Mum and young person has been increased gradually with overnights planned and a gentle transition home. The legal situation is now the barrier as our young person is subject to a permanence order and therefore can’t be returned home until that is retracted. This part of the plan is now progressing.

On a practical level housing have provided a larger tenancy, we have provided funding for bedroom furnishings and supported mum to register young person in local school.

When young person returns home full time we will ensure that there is a contact oohs and regular visits from those involved.

We are clear with our young people and their carers about their entitlements to support and this is reinforced by our LAC review officers, their independent advocates and our TCAC team.

We have produced leaflets to ensure that they are aware and know how to exercise their rights. We have ensured that our older care experienced young people to help ensure that young people know and exercise these rights through their involvement in our champions board.

Our Young Scot portal also has a dedicated page for care experienced young people which gives information about their rights and entitlements

No. Any changes to eligibility criteria would require to be made in the context of a foster care recruitment crisis and financial implications of residential placements. We also need to consider whether any extension is what the young people want or need. In our experience most young people who are in continuing care placements are either permanently placed with the carers or are in kinship arrangements where they would be supported anyway.

Professionals supporting continuing carers need to be clear about the expectations of the arrangement and enable the carers to allow the young person to explore independence skills.

Young people need to know the expectations of the arrangements and what their responsibilities are e.g what time they are expected in at or their contribution to the household.

Introducing the TCAC Worker as early as possible allows for the introduction of continuing care as a possibility. The discussions can then focus on is this right for the young person, is the carer able and willing to provide continuing care and what the arrangements would be. Hearing that the young person wants to stay is the first stage but can be traumatic when the carer is not prepared to offer the arrangement.

To minimise this we will usually seek the views of the carer as to whether they are willing to consider this and then discuss this with the young person.

Through our LAC review process we will look at how we are ensuring that young people will know what the choices are and ensure that their views are noted.

We believe that young people deserve a service no matter what category or age they are. We have developed a one -stop shop based in the centre of Perth as well as partnerships with locality youth providers in localities, The young people know where these services are and if they need to can gain support. Both of these services have links into welfare rights, housing , employability support as well as providing emotional support and guidance. We ensure that young people know where to go and that they are welcome if they need support.

We also ensure that there is an annual phone call to the young people who are not in regular contact to ensure that they are ok and that they know we are there to support them.

No as above we support all young people already and any change would only act as a barrier as we would then be stigmatising some young people as opposed to others

As above is this what young people want. Our experience is that young people will float in and out of requiring support and need to know that the support is there no matter without criteria. We would need ask a young person if they were compulsory supported or not and deem support at a different level because of that. We believe strongly that some young people will need more support than others because of their circumstances and that support should be based on need rather than as a result of criteria.

Our experience is that young people know where to go and many of the staff who have worked for a long time in Perth and Kinross will have relationships with young people so they know who to contact beyond 26, The challenge for lifelong support is when these people move on and adults don’t require support till later on in their life. Our experience with our adult care colleagues is that they will prioritize people with care experience for services and will use our current IT system to identify them.

As above. Young People just now will be easily identified as having care experience if they are accessing services which have access to our IT system. However, they would need to identify themselves as care experienced for other services and that might not be what they would want to do. I think that unless there are specific services for care experienced adults that were in place for when they need, they the system would rely on self-identification and that may be the barrier.

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Those young people who have been in secure care are at their most vulnerable when they leave. Their exit from secure care needs to be well planned and staged. Young people need to have a place to go identified and as others who leave residential placements need to have a holistic support in place. That means having something identified to do whether that is college, employment or a return to school.

If young people are returning to family supports described above need to be in place. If moving into independence, then we need to be thinking about providing social care support with their agreement within their home. These supports can help with re-establishing themselves within their community.

The challenges can come when a young person is living in a different local authority from the one who has responsibility for them. Gaining priority for support can be difficult and supporting from a distance means that support is not as intensive as sometimes needs to be.

When people leave prison, they often face obstacles, making it hard for them to
adjust to this next stage in their lives. The Scottish Government has committed to
ensuring that young people under the age of 18 are no longer placed in young
offenders institutions and we are prioritising the commencement of the relevant
provisions of the Children’s Care and Justice (Scotland) Act 2024 to achieve this.
Despite this positive step, it remains critical that those young adults with care
experience who are in a young offenders institution or prison, have the right bridges
in place, such as stable relationships and person-centred support when they leave.

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Unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving in Scotland are also Scotland’s
children for the time they are in our care. We must look after them in the same way
we would want others to care for our own children. Many young unaccompanied
asylum seekers come into care at a later stage than many Scottish-born children and
young people with care experience, which leaves less time to prepare for the
transition to adulthood. We also understand that young unaccompanied asylum
seeking people in this situation may have reduced social networks due to their
circumstances. They may also have additional mental and physical health needs
related to adverse events they have experienced prior to their arrival.

The barrier to offering as much support as to those Scottish care experienced young people is whether or not the asylum application has been approved or not. If they have settled status young people can then move on to their own accommodation, seek employment and live independently. If not then their right to support is different. Young people may stay longer in their accommodation and also be prevented from moving on to employment, The emotional toll of waiting on a decision is clear and young people need the support from their workers and carers.

Whilst there is emotional support for young people more specialist trauma support for young people from conflict situations would be helpful.

We have a very clear pathway for young people with complex needs transitioning into adult care. We work in partnership with adult services to determine the care plan and agree the legal processes. We will look for guardianship for those who young people meeting the criteria which means that their rights will be protected. The adult care team will allocate a worker to work alongside the childcare worker so that information and knowledge is passed over. TCAC are also involved to ensure that their entitlement to services and support is in place. Child care workers will remain involved until the young person reaches 18.

Moving on from care can be difficult as young people tend to need specialist support housing if not moving home. There is a scarcity of social care providers and specific housing and if more were available then there may be a choice for young people.

The protection of the unborn baby is the priority for all and some care experienced young people struggle with the change of focus for them. We have had several care experienced young people who have had children removed at birth due to the risks they are presenting. It is extremely difficult to balance all the needs in these situations especially when the baby being removed is not the first.

We have tried to support our care experienced parents by offering them a childcare worker for themselves, ensuring that they are offered some therapeutic support, offered mother and baby placements and intensive support at home,

Some of care experienced parents have used our community family projects detailed above as a non-stigmatised approach in their community. They have reported to feel supported by this and will engage in all the activities on offer. This has helped us to develop our approach into more nurturing relationships.

It is difficult to balance the risks for children with the support for the parents. If the risks are too high then involvement in child protection procedures can become difficult especially if the care experienced young parents have had a negative experience of care themselves.

The balance of needs can be helped by having clear expectations. Support staff for the parents separate to the child, having an understanding of their communication needs to ensure that they understand what is being said and ensuring that any barriers are removed from seeking support.

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We have service called Grandmentors which is a mentoring scheme for care experienced young people who are then allocated a mentor who will support them in their own home. The feedback form young people is that this is really helpful and that they feel supported. This service is particularly beneficial when young people have no family links

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We have been delivering lifelong links for several years now and have seen the benefit for young people to reconnect with people who are important to them and re-establish relationships with them. The young people also learn about maintaining relationships and the contribution that relationships make to their lives.

We have and encourage carers in particular to remain in contact with the young people they have looked after. Some of our carers have bought extending dining tables so that they can come together for meals whilst others have continued to provide homes for holiday periods when in further education.

Our young people know the emergency oohs contacts and will use this in an emergency for food, money or someone to talk to. When times are difficult staff will offer to meet with young people outwith office hours and will try to ensure that supports are available.

The issue they struggle with most is emotional support so having a contact number for people they know is really important.

Pathway transition planning and comprehensive assessments before care leavers transition out of care which identifies their physical and mental health needs. These assessments should inform personalised care plans to ensure that health and mental health services are seamlessly continued when a young person leaves care, reducing the risk of service disruption. Implement systems to regularly monitor the health and wellbeing of care leavers, ensuring that any issues are promptly addressed.

Foster collaboration between health services, social work, and third-sector organizations to provide a coordinated support system.

Train all healthcare providers in trauma-informed approaches to ensure that care leavers feel safe and supported when accessing services. Create mechanisms for care leavers to provide feedback on services, ensuring that their voices are heard in the ongoing development of support services.

Provide easy access to mental health services, including counselling, therapy, and peer support, with flexible appointment times and locations. At this time there is often difficulties for young people to access CAMHS if they have left secondary education which results in having to refer into adult community mental health services. Needs to be more joined up working that moves beyond eligibility criteria and focuses on the needs of young people.


Ensure services are culturally sensitive and inclusive, particularly for care leavers from minority ethnic backgrounds or with other specific needs.

Expand access to telehealth and online counselling services, especially for those in remote areas or who prefer digital communication.

Ensure there are clear referral routes into adult care and mental health/Wellbeing services for those young people with additional support needs, and that assessments are carried out at an early stage to allow positive transitions.

As above planning should begin early and allow the young person to identify where they would want to live well in advance of their leaving care date. As part of that planning the need for support should also be identified and whether that is housing support through a housing support provider such as Rock Trust or emotional support through a social care provider like Richmond Fellowship the young person needs to understand their role and remit and agree.

We have a staged approach to independent living and found that by offering a range of housing options young people are more able to succeed. We have found that moving on from a highly supported residential placement into their own tenancy can be extremely daunting so will use our housing support provision which is staffed 24/7 the best option. The provision known as Wellbank has staff trained in trauma approaches and develops practical skills as well as offering emotional support. We also have supported lodgings , host families as well as supported flats through rock trust and Anchor house.

We have a youth housing group which comprises of all members who provide and support young people in gaining and maintaining their own tenancy. This group allows for plans to be made and the most appropriate tenancy to be identified as well as support plans to be in place. We believe this is good practice as it allows priority to be given to care experienced young people taking account of their needs and where they want to live.

The biggest barrier is that young people have difficulty coping with the emotional isolation when living on their own. This can then lead to them being vulnerable to exploitation. Young people can be taught all of the practical skills and managing money but we always say to them that managing their front door is the biggest challenge.

This is where services such as Rock Trust and Richmond Fellowship are really important.

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Raising awareness of managing and budgeting money as a care experienced student. Feedback from some foster carers indicated the risk around care experienced young people being befriended by other students who take advantage of the students in receipt of the CE college bursary. Support and advice around saving some money and small investment to help achieve goals.

Clear information with annual updates for schools to share the benefits of encouraging care experienced young people to use the Guaranteed Offer and self-identify as Care experienced on UCAS and SAS applications for financial support.

Highlighting services such as Propel website which make direct links to support available and contacts for care experienced young people at colleges and university.

Independent support for young people to complete application and funding forms. Encourage young people to self-identity their care experience.

• Ensure that links are made with student support services with agreed check-in dates to review how the young person is progress with student life and studies.
• Time with care experience support worker to look at some personal centred plans and then support to action what the young person has identified as helpful.
• Provide flexibility in course delivery and adaptations to enable students to return to their studies or extensions to coursework to enable then to complete qualifications.
• Provide counselling services

Entering the care system can cause problems for young people, for example, their education can be disrupted through placement changes and moving schools. Young people need scaffolding of support around them to ensure the right support is there when needed. Transition from school into the world of work and further education can be daunting, especially for young people with care experience that may have already faced many changes. Having a planned transition will help these young people decide what they want to move onto. With employability youth workers supporting the young people to identify their strengths and remove barriers through bespoke 1 to 1 work and action planning. In addition, exposure to employability programmes and new situations such as work experience will help to develop their skills and confidence. An early intervention approach is needed to allow appropriate time for this phase. Current funding allows us to work with young people 6 months before they leave school. For young people with care experience, it would help if this support could start earlier as this would allow more time to build a trusting relationship and help the young people explore options and build skills to move on from school into a positive destination. The need for this earlier intervention is supported by evidence which informs us that a higher percentage of looked after pupils leave school at the minimum age or before, compared with other pupils.

K was referred to us aged 15.5. K faced many barriers including mental health issues, care experienced, unmedicated ADHD, Dyslexia, offending behaviour, substance misuse, low-income household, living in a rural area and at risk of having no positive destination post school. K had been accommodated in Edinburgh and had recently moved back to Perth. He had SW involvement and was a school refuser. K worked 1 to 1 with his employability worker David. They would meet weekly although this built up over time as K’s engagement was not consistent. David initially met K at the social work facility as this was a safe place for K. Over time as trust was built, they would meet in various places including home visits and in our youth base. K had a history of offending and didn’t feel safe in the community or travelling by bus. David would pick K up for visits and drop him off to ensure he felt safe and could engage with appointments. K had a bike so they worked on this together and David would go out cycling with him as K did not feel safe alone. As K’s confidence grew, he was eventually able to cycle on his own and this gave him a new lease of life and independence. K has now secured employment on the outskirts of Perth and he is able to cycle to work.

Employers could be better supported to recruit, support and retain young people who have care experience if they had some basic training to ensure they understand the complexity of issues faced and how to deal with situations. Employer recruitment incentives would also help so that employers have funded places for young people with care experience. This would give young people real experience and the chance to build up skills and confidence. This is also more likely to lead to sustainable job opportunities either within the company or out with as many employers are looking for employees who have experience. These opportunities are sometimes advertised nationally, however, local opportunities in P & K would be advantageous.